Doubt
by Saucysasusaku
Summary: In which Sasuke remembers the times he doubted his father's love for his mother.


A cloud of dust came up as he lowered the box from its shelf. He coughed a little as some of the particles got into his lungs.

After clearing up his airways, he carefully set the box on the ground, opened it up and began searching through its contents.

"I don't think it's in that one Sasuke," he heard Nekobaa call out from somewhere behind him. She was currently searching through her own pile of boxes in an attempt to help him find what he was looking for. "That one's full knits. Winter garments looks like to me."

He looked at the box once more and out of curiosity began pulling out some of the garments within. He recognized them all instantly, these were all hand knitted by his mother. She loved to knit. Itachi and himself had owned a vast collection of scarfs, gloves and beanie's, most of which looked liked were stuffed into this box. He pulled out a pair of his and Itachi's old gloves. He let out a small chuckle at the sight of them. Itachi's were still in pristine condition, if one didn't know any better one might think they were never worn at all, but Sasuke remembers him wearing them on various occasions. His on the other hand were much more worn out. The left one was missing the tip of the index finger and the right had multiple loose threads. He put them back in the box and was about to close it up when something caught his eye.

Most of the things his mother knitted were for Itachi and him. On a few occasions would she make something for someone else. Even more rare would she make something for their father. The few pieces she did Sasuke never saw him wear them, except of course there was an exception, Sasuke mused.

"_Maybe this time you'll learn to keep them in good condition Sasuke." His mother scolded as she set his newly knitted gloves before him at the kitchen table. _

"_Yes, mother" He replied as he watched her set Itachi's pair in front of his usual seat and also set a pair in front of his father's seat before she turned back to the stove to start preparing breakfast. _

_Sasuke stared hard at he the pair of gloves designated for his father before turning to question his mother. _

"_Say, mother?" _

_Judging by the small hum she made Sasuke took that as his queue to continue. "Why do you knit father things even though you know he's not going to wear them?" _

_His mother stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him. _

"_I mean aren't you just wasting your time? Doesn't it upset you that he doesn't appreciate the things you do for him?" he stammered out. Suddenly he was very aware of the scolding that was probably about to come. He looked down at the table. _

_He was surprised when his mother took a seat beside him._

"_Sasuke," she softly let out._

_He in turn, looked up at her._

"_Some people have a little bit more trouble expressing themselves and letting their emotions show. Your father is one of those people. Just because he doesn't openly state his feelings, your father cares for you, your brother and I very, very much. Even though your father has never thanked me for the gloves I make for him, I know he appreciates them." _

_While Sasuke wanted to say more, he knew it was better to just let it rest for now. _

_After breakfast was over Sasuke grabbed his bento and new gloves and was about to head out the door and make his way to the academy when his mother called out to him. _

"_Sasuke!" _

_He stopped and turned to his mother who was standing in the doorway with a bento. "Looks like your father forgot his lunch dear, would you mind catching up to him and giving it to him?" _

"_Yes, mother." He replied while going over to grab the bento from her. Then he turned back around and headed out the door into the cold December air. _

_After leaving the Uchiha Compound, he headed off in the direction the direction of the police force. He caught site of his father right before he was about to enter it. _

"_Father!" he cried out. His father paused at the entrance and turned around to him. Sasuke ran up to him. "You forgot your lunch today father." _

"_Ah," his murmured as he nodded in thanks before reaching out to grab the boxed lunch. Before he was able to grab it though Sasuke pulled back in surprise. _

"_Father! You're wearing the gloves mother made you!" he exclaimed in surprise. _

_His father faltered a moment before answering, "Aren't you going to be late for class." He muttered before reaching out, grabbing the bento, then turning right back around and entering the building. _

_And maybe it was just the cold, but Sasuke could have sworn he saw his father's cheeks and ears turn just slightly red. _

Sasuke chuckled at the memory. He put he gloves back into the box, closed it back up and lifted it back onto the shelf.

He turned back to Nekobaa "Any luck," he called out to her.

"No, not yet." She answered while shuffling around some things in a box. "Tamaki?" He questioned the girl who was located somewhere in the middle of all the mess.

"Sorry." She replied to which Sasuke let out a sigh. He didn't think it would be this difficult.

"Can't you just buy a new one?" He heard Tamaki call out from somewhere within her pile.

While the idea had occurred to him, he would really rather not. It's not about the money, he had more than enough to buy an incredible one, but he just really wanted this one. After the massacre, many of his family's possessions had been brought over to Sora-ku. After searching the Uchiha Compound in the leaf village and not being able to find what he was looking for, he decided maybe the item had got caught up in the transfer and been mistakenly brought here. He looked around to the maze of boxes piled up around them, all of them containing ghosts and memories from his childhood.

"We keep looking" he said much to the dismay of Tamaki.

He reached back up to the shelf once more to grab another box. This one, when he lowered it, made a slight jingling noise.

Getting slightly hopeful, he quickly placed it on the ground an opened it up to find chinaware. Not just any old chinaware though. This specific set was hand crafted somewhere deep within the Land of Earth. He remembers the day it was delivered.

"_Do you think he might have forgotten it was today?"_

_Itachi stopped reading the scroll in his lap and looked to him. "You know very well Sasuke that father's not one to forget something like this." _

"_But why would father take the mission, when he knew that this day was coming?" he questioned his brother Itachi._

"_I'm really not all too sure Sasuke," he answered. "There are some things that father does that only he understands," he then went back to reading his scroll._

_While Sasuke accepted that answer, he wasn't very satisfied with it. It was their anniversary; he was supposed to be here. _

_He went back into living room to find his mother cleaning and rearranging the items located on the shelves. To anyone else his mother might have looked like she was fine, but Sasuke knew his mother well enough to know that she most certainly wasn't. The slight dip in her shoulders and the loss of bounce in her step told him otherwise. _

_To father this may be just another day, but to her it was something so much more than that. _

"_I would never treat my wife like that," he muttered before going over to his mother, but before he could make his presence known there was a knocking at the door._

_His mother looked over at him and asked him to go and answer, to which he complied. _

_He walked over to the foyer and to the front door. He opened the door and was suspired to find a delivery man on the other side, carrying a very large box. _

"_Um, can I help you?" Sasuke questioned the man. _

"_Delivery for a Mrs. Mikoto Uchiha."_

_He heard his mother approach from behind him. "For me?" she questioned. _

_He nodded and then held out the box for her to take, at that moment Itachi came forward. "I've got it mother." He said while grabbing the box from the deliveryman. _

_His mother thanked the man and showed him out while he in turn followed Itachi into the kitchen. "What is it?" he asked as Itachi set the box down on the table. "Well it's for mother, so we'll let her open it." _

_It was then that their mother joined them in the kitchen. "I don't recall ever ordering anything."_

"_Well the postage doesn't say who it's from, but it does say it's from the Land Of Earth." Itachi said while pointing out the label. _

"_Isn't that where father's at?! Open it mother! _

_Itachi held out a kunai for her, which she hesitantly took. Slowly she cut the edges of the box trying carefully not to disturb its contents. Opening it up, they were met with the sight of bubble wrap, and lots of it. _

_After removing the bubble wrap they were met with various objects that were tightly wrapped in brown packing paper. Taking one out, his mother slowly unwrapped it to reveal dainty white little teacup with pink cherry blossoms painted on it with gold trimming. _

"_Is that all this is?!" he questioned begrudgingly. He was expecting something cooler. "Well this is—" but Itachi shushed him and pointed to their mother. It was then that Sasuke noticed the tears coming down her cheeks and the most beautiful smile on her face. Together they took all the pieces out of the box, unwrapped them and in no time had an exquisite fine china set laying before them. _

"_And you thought he forgot." Murmered Itachi. _

_._

_._

_._

_It was the front door opening that woke him up. He looked over to his nightstand and saw it was a little after midnight. "Is Itachi just now getting home?" he thought. Throwing off his covers he jumped off the bed and went down the hallway, down the stairs down towards the kitchen where he could see the light was on. He paused right as he rounded the corner. It wasn't Itachi who was home. _

_It was his father. He turned around and pressed himself up against the hallway wall. _

_He could vaguely hear him and his mother talking quietly. _

"_I didn't think you remembered."_

"_How could I forget something like that?" _

"_I didn't even think you were listening when I was telling you about that china set." _

"_I'm always listening." _

_Then they got really quite. For a moment he thought maybe they had left, only when he looked around the corner once more he was able to see something he's never seen before. _

_His mother had her hands wrapped around his torso while his father's hands were cupping his mothers face. Their lips were pressed up against each other. Sasuke had to restrain himself from letting out a gasp. Quickly ran back up the stairs to his room and hid under his covers. _

_An hour later when Itachi finally came home, Sasuke could still feel his ears burning red. _

He closed the box back up and said over his shoulder. "I'll be taking this box Nekobaa," he then set it aside as so to not confuse it with any of the other boxes.

"That's fine." She called out in reply.

He looked around to see if he could any other boxes they haven't already gone through when he heard Tamaki shout "Is that what we're looking for?!"

He turned to see her holing up a small velvet box. Quickly he jumped over some boxes and went over to her to inspect the object himself. Taking it from Tamaki he opened up the small box.

It was exactly as he remembered it.

No, it was actually better.

"Have that box filled with chinaware delivered to the compound Nekobaa." He said while stuffing the small object into his pockets and then heading towards the door. "I'll see you around."

"Wait!" Tamaki called. "Arent you going to help—" but by then Sasuke was long gone.

She turned to find her grandma chuckling. "Let him be, don't you see he's eager to deliver that."

.

.

.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Maybe he should wait a little bit longer.

It's clearly not the right time for them he thought.

But if not now then when?

He was sitting in Sakura's office waiting for her to finish her shift for the day so they could go have dinner.

He took the small object out of his pocket to look at it once more.

"_But how will I know?!" he whined to his mother, who was currently in the middle of making lunch. _

"_Well," she paused what she was doing and turned to him. "If you're absolutely sure that there is no else on earth you would rather spend the rest of you life with, then that's how you know she's the one." _

_She laughed when he only pouted even more. _

"_How about when you find someone you love as much as your father loves me?" _

_Right when he was about to retort to that, his father came in. _

_Judging by the look on his face and how tense he was, Sasuke could tell his father was in a bad mood. He knew it was best to keep quiet. _

"_Why don't you go wash up for lunch Sasuke." His mother told him, to which he obeyed. _

_When he returned. He found both his father and mother seated at the kitchen table. _

_But this time his father wasn't as tense._

_He was much more relaxed and calm, and for a second Sasuke could have sworn that he saw a hint of a smile on his face. This is what she does to him._

_It's a side of his father that only his mother will ever know._

"Sasuke-kun?" a voice called out to him.

He turned and saw Sakura had come in and was putting on her coat, "Are you ready?" she asked

"Yeah, I am."

* * *

**A/N: **Really don't like this one, but hopefully you guys think differently. I have one more final then I'm done for the semester and I do plan on updating everything before christmas and hopefully some new stuff. I have two smuts I wrote but every time I proofread them I get less motivated to publish them, so those might just stay on my flash drive for like ever. Hope you guys have a blessed week and please let me know what you think!


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